Why a Potato Chip Flavour Says More Than Your Digital Strategy
Let’s be real. No one lies awake at night thinking about limited edition potato chip flavours. Except me, last Thursday, 1:41 a.m., spiralling after seeing Chicken-Parmesan-Cracked-Pepper-Crunch on a friend's Instagram story. Why? Because somewhere in a boardroom, a marketer green-lit that Frankenflavour. And it sold out in 72 hours.
This isn’t about chips. It’s about micro-narratives. The tiny, weird stories brands tell without even realising: seasonal flavours, nostalgia-pulls, and packaging that looks like your aunty designed it in 1998. You could spend six figures on a brand platform, but the emotional edge often hides in throwaways like a retro flavour drop. Kiwis see right through polish. But they’ll sell out a dairy if you spark a memory of hangi in a packet.
Marketers get obsessed with scale and forget peculiarity is a currency. I don’t want a campaign that ‘resonates generally’. I want one that makes someone text their mate, ‘Bro, remember roast lamb at uncle’s house in 04?’ You think Taste Sensations cracked the culture code with ad spend? Nah, they just made a chip that tastes like high school.
So next time your team is lost in performance metrics and Q2 deliverables, ask dumber, better questions. What’s the emotional flavour here? Would anyone screenshot it? Or better, drive to Levin for it? That’s not silly. That’s strategy with flavour.
This isn’t about chips. It’s about micro-narratives. The tiny, weird stories brands tell without even realising: seasonal flavours, nostalgia-pulls, and packaging that looks like your aunty designed it in 1998. You could spend six figures on a brand platform, but the emotional edge often hides in throwaways like a retro flavour drop. Kiwis see right through polish. But they’ll sell out a dairy if you spark a memory of hangi in a packet.
Marketers get obsessed with scale and forget peculiarity is a currency. I don’t want a campaign that ‘resonates generally’. I want one that makes someone text their mate, ‘Bro, remember roast lamb at uncle’s house in 04?’ You think Taste Sensations cracked the culture code with ad spend? Nah, they just made a chip that tastes like high school.
So next time your team is lost in performance metrics and Q2 deliverables, ask dumber, better questions. What’s the emotional flavour here? Would anyone screenshot it? Or better, drive to Levin for it? That’s not silly. That’s strategy with flavour.